With the explosion of email as one of the main forms of communication today, the risk of receiving email-based or attachment-based viruses is increasing exponentially.

A simple virus has the ability to extract email addresses from your email software, delete files that your operating system needs in order to work, and most importantly: ALLOW ACCESS TO YOUR DATA!

In some cases, files on your computer can be worth more to your business than the computer itself. If you lose your data, or your data is exposed to intruders (or even your competition), what does this do for your business!

With the threat of viruses a major concern for everyone from home users to major corporate networks, prevention is the key. The best course of prevention is the regular updating of 'virus definitions' from your anti-virus software provider. Most anti-virus software has built-in functionality that allows you to download the latest definitions automatically. My choice has to be Norton AntiVirus by Symantec. It still leaves others in the dust for it effectiveness. Its live update feature downloads new virus definitions as they are discovered. These 'definitions' are like mug shots that tell your computer what to look out for. This means that your computer knows about a new virus before the hit the newstands - by which time it could be too late.

Even though you think you are doing the right ting installing Anti virus software, without these updated virus definitions, your anti-virus software has no idea what the latest virus 'looks like'. Even If you purchased an anti-virus package off the shelf, today it will still need updating. For example, since the 1st of September, there have been no less than 36 new virus strains/mutations recognised.

Quite simply, do not wait for the 6:00pm news to tell you that there is a new virus making the rounds. Get in first.